


Far too Long

by Charlie9646



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Affect of a curse, Banter, Death Eaters, F/M, First War, Forced Proximity, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, snarky Barty Crouch Jr.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:02:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25498798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie9646/pseuds/Charlie9646
Summary: There are many things Lily Evans wants to do with her life, but in this moment she would simply settle for knocking Barty Crouch Jr’s teeth out.That would make everything just a little bit better.
Relationships: Severus Snape/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 16
Kudos: 40
Collections: Dumbledore's Armada: Wheel of Death Flash Fiction Comp





	Far too Long

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Wheel of Death Flash Fiction Comp hosted by Frumpologist in Dumbledore’s Armada Discord Server. My Chosen Character was Severus. My wheel of Death prompts were Survival, forced proximity, and my quote was “Instant gratification takes far too long.” Carrie Fisher. My second character was Barty Crouch Jr.
> 
> Thanks to my Beta RavenpuffLove who was rather supportive about this odd little thing.

Many things in life were worth waiting for, but the life Lily had planned for herself was not one of them.  
  


A husband, marriage and children. James Potter wanted everything. He wanted to slip a ring on her finger, drag her off to a little white church, and in nine months have a baby. He would become an Auror and she would be a stay at home mother. Everything would be right as rain, until it wasn’t.

But Lily couldn’t do that.  
  


She wanted to get her mastery in charms. She wanted to fight Voldemort. She wanted to travel to Paris. She wanted to sleep with tons of boys and girls. To feel their skin beneath her fingers. Lily wanted everything; she wanted to know what life was really about.

She wanted to learn about the parts of magic that made people about who they were and why they were here. She wanted to feel alive. Lily wanted to feel, see and do things that made life worth living, but she knew those things couldn’t in an instant. Life was supposed to be like a novel, you were the author, and it was your choice how you wanted to write it. James Potter wanted to take from her, shoving her into a role she never agreed to. 

Long ago Lily and Severus used to talk about truly living, but those days had long since passed.

Before her sat a person who she never thought she would see again. Severus Snape with his sharp, calculating, coal-black eyes. His long fingers clasped in front of him, the tips resting on his lips. His long black hair hanging around his face and shoulders like curtains.

Barty Crouch Jr, the son of the director of the Auror department was sitting on the arm of the chair. The only reason why the man was here was his father. For Severus’ pardon they had to protect his son. It seemed in the Wizarding World who you were mattered more than anything. Barty’s hand was resting on Severus’ shoulder. The man’s steely blue eyes were leering at her, though he seemed to be enjoying the view. He held a cigarette between his lips, smoke coming off of it like tentacles stretching out to touch the dingy sitting room ceiling.

This was a safe house and these two Slytherins were Lily’s protectors, or at least they should be in theory. . . but it didn’t feel that way. Her mind screamed at her to pace across the scuffed wood floor. The smirk on Barty’s face said that he was very much enjoying this and his eyes kept drifting to Severus, never losing that knowing gleam. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She felt more like an insurance policy to make sure the two former Death Eaters stay in line. But, it was more than just that for her. Lily needed proof that her former friend had changed.

Severus had been given many chances, but this would be the last one and it was his choice what to do with it.

Lily fell back heavily into the armchair near the fire, sighing as she did so. Her arm hurt. No, it throbbed. The cursed scar she had received a few weeks ago had not healed. The store bought potions weren’t helping, Lily knew that she should have seen a healer, but that would mean admitting she was working with the order.

Was this how caged animals felt? Lily thought.

“What’s wrong?” Severus asked. “You don’t seem like yourself.”

“Nothing,” Lily spat, shifting in the chair to stare out the window and crossing her arms over her chest, “nothing that matters at least.”

“What’s wrong?” Barty deadpanned, unlike Severus, was unwilling to beat around the bush. “We can’t keep you safe if you drop dead on us or something.”

“I was hit with a curse a few weeks ago and the wound isn’t exactly healing,” she said as she began pulling up the sleeve of her jumper to show them her arm.

Severus let out a hiss at sight of it. Lily knew it didn’t look very good, the skin around it was red and the wound was oozing blood and puss.

“Who did this?” Both men asked her.

“Bellatrix,” Lily muttered, staring at the toe of her worn out trainer. “One second I was fine and the next I was knocked on my arse screaming my bloody head off in pain.”

“She’s utterly insane,” Barty snapped. “Not you, Evans, I am talking about Lestrange. She’s as mad as a niffler in a jewelry story.”

“She might be mad, but her spellwork is like nothing I have ever seen,” Severus murmured. “You are not going to like the answer of what we have to do, Lily.”

“Just spit it out, Sev,” Lily said. “I am not some porcelain doll you have to worry about breaking. Whatever it is, just tell me how we can fix it.”

“It’s a spell of Bellatrix’s creation, it’s to cause your body to attack itself, the only way to stop it is to…” His words trailed off and he sighed softly, taking Lily’s hand into his own. “Is something I do not believe you would want to do.”  
  
The words came out as if they weighed a hundred pounds. His black eyes flicking at Crouch again as if they were having a conversation Lily had not been deemed worthy of hearing. What in Merlin could it be? 

“I deserve to know what’s going in my own body!” She spat, going over to stoke the fire. “ What is so worrisome that you must keep it from me? Am I going to die some unspeakable death, or is there something we can do?”

  
  


“The only way to get the spell to stop is trying to tear you apart is for a part of you to no longer be a Muggleborn,” Barty said, unafraid of hurting her sensibilities the way Severus was. “You have to bond with someone of each blood status that you are not. A pureblood and a halfblood. And considering we can’t leave this safe house because the Death Eaters want to make sure we all become history…”

“You two are the only options I have,” Lily muttered. “Well it’s not like I am seeing anyone, and anything is better than this pain.”

Severus sat there looking like some sort of wounded animal, as if a knife was being shoved into his gut, and each word she spoke only twisted it in deeper.

Lily leaned down and brushed her lips against Severus’. He tasted like the cigarettes he always smoked and the cheap Muggle whisky that they had found in the cabinet in the kitchen. Kissing Severus was like kissing a man made of stone. He was cold, rigid under her fingers, terrified of what was to come. But, then, suddenly, he gave into it, pulling Lily to his lap kissing her.

“Well, well isn’t that something?” Barty laughed from where he sat. “Never thought I would see the day.”

“Why do you say that?” Lily snapped, pulling away from Severus staring up at the other man. “Severus and I have been friends since we were children. And without your kind we would still be as close as we once were.” 

The man continued to laugh, his pale cheeks turning a bright shade of red as he did so. His hand was going to cover his mouth as he tried desperately to compose himself.

“You don’t know, do you?” Crouch asked, jumping to his feet, his boots slamming into the hardwood floor.

“What do I not know?” she snarled, her face heating up, turning the same color as her hair as she waited for one of them to respond. “Well? We haven’t got all day, so will one of you stupid wankers tell me this deep dark secret? I haven’t got any guesses and I am tired of your stupid games, Barty!” Lily wished she had something close enough to reach for, so she could throw it at his head. 

“Carrot top, he likes you.” Barty said, rolling his eyes and pointing his finger sharply at her. “Actually? The man loves you. He has since school. Snape doesn’t just want to bugger you. He wants the wedding bells, the white picket fence, and the shared floo. Maybe it’s your blood that causes it, or maybe you just can’t see beyond yourself, but I’ve met toads that think more about others more than you do.”

Severus didn’t say anything. His mouth opened and closed awkwardly with nothing but soft sighs escaping. Standing up Severus bolted, his long spidery limbs carrying him out of the sitting room. The front door slammed loudly behind him. The resounding crack filled Lily’s ears as her feet carried her out to join her friend. Her heart was in her throat.  
  
He loved her?

Severus loved her??  
  
The little boy with the dirty face, crooked nose, the rags for clothes that hung off his narrow frame, and shoes that were a size too small? The boy who taught her how to skip stones? The one she taught to ride a bike? The teenager with stringy hair hanging in his face, who turned her sister’s hair purple after Petunia teased him about it too many times?

Severus Snape was like putting on your favourite coat; it might not be the latest fashion, but it felt like home in the way nothing else did. Lily didn’t know how she felt about him. He wasn’t James, nor would Lily ever ask him to be. She loved him as he was, but being in love with him was quite another story.

Growing up being in love with someone was supposed to be like a fairytale, but you couldn’t have a bedtime story with someone who you had seen their worst, as well as their best . . .could you?

Lily found Severus staring out at the setting sun, his hands clasping the porch railing tightly, fingers as white as bone.

“Have you come out here to join Crouch in his mocking of me?” Severus asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Shut off from the world and her, the same as always. Putting up shields even in the way he spoke. She reached for him silently, though he shifted away slightly from her touch, putting back up his protective wall.

“No, I have not,” Lily said softly. “So is any of what Barty said true?”

“Which part?” He asked, though following up with, “the cure for the curse? It is only one option, the old one. I’ve created a potion.” He said softly, his hand going to his far too long hair tugging at it. “My feelings on the other hand are real. I am not an open person, Lily, at least not those about feelings. But, I love you and I believe I always will. If you do not desire anything more than friendship… I shall accept it. If you desire more I would happily give it to you. Regardless I cannot imagine a life without you in it. Not anymore.”

“Gratification of the flesh only lasts a instant,” she muttered. “Working for love, truly learning to grow in it together is something else… It is not merely surviving, it’s truly living.”

“That is not an answer,” Severus murmured, turning to face her.

“It could be,” Lily said, reaching up grabbing his collar as she did so. “But, we shall no longer allow Barty Crouch Jr to be privy to whatever the choices on this we try to make. Unless you are sleeping with him?”

“Merlin, why do we even allow him here?” he asked.  
  


“Because he’s going to be our spy, which helps keep you safe,” she said. Once more Lily pressed her lips against his, and this time it had nothing to do with surviving, and everything to do with living. “Now would you go fetch me that potion?”


End file.
